The Periods of Being

Chapter IXXXX

Chapter IXXXX

The days go by in a blur. The sun and moon rise and set as if they are fighting with each other and decide that they won't make beautiful sunsets together anymore until the other apologizes for something foolish. Olive makes sure to visit Mark's grave twice a day in attempts to show her husband that she won't forget about him when she departs to see her sister. Neil shows his excitement of her leaving and reuniting with her family in smiles and a huge feast for her last night.

    "I thought we agreed to do a huge feast the day I come back?" She asked him then.

    "You deserve two big feasts in your name, Olive," he answered then.

    She spent the last night trying to figure out ways to avoid going. She wonders if licking the walls would cause her to contract a deadly disease that will leave her bedridden for a few days— or weeks. She decided then that it wasn't possible. The manor is too clean for her to contract a deadly disease inside.

    Before she is aware of what is happening around her, she is sitting in the back of a car, on her way to Blythestone manor. The feeling of deja vu overwhelms her. The same chauffeur, Mr. Haden, drives the car and she sits in the same fashion, black dress and mourning veil, in the back seat. He didn't comment on her apparel when he picked her up at the train station, but his darting gaze back and forth to the rearview mirror to the road makes her believe that he is feeling the same sensation as well.

    "It's a pleasure to drive you to Blythestone manor for the second time, m'lady. I hope you have been well over the years that you've been in hiding at Garthen Manor."

     "I live in Garthen manor. I don't hide there," she corrects him with a cold look. She washes the stiff cold off her face when she realizes her mistake. I need to calm down, she tells herself. Her heart has been racing since the train ride and her knuckles are becoming to be a permeant shade of white by her grip. She releases them. One hand reaches up to Mark's ring around her neck and fiddles with it to try to calm herself.

    "Sorry, it's been a long journey, a long morning," she apologies to him. His eyes glance up to the rearview mirror. The mirror projects a smile of white pearls. Teeth that are happy to be seen not in a scowl or plotting grin, but a smile. A true smile.

    "I understand completely, miss. I can't imagine how long the journey has been. We are almost there." He tells her. He doesn't stumble on his words nor the meaning of them as much as he did the first time he drove her. She smiles behind her veil at him. "Ahh," he coos. "So, Lady Olive does smile!"

    "I'm not dead," she teases back.

    He laughs a big, bellowing laugh, making her laugh along with him. She covers her mouth to try to conceal, but she can't help herself but laugh with him. With him? Or at him? Either way, she laughs alongside him. The atmosphere flutters into a light mist. They breathe in the mist and get high in the light airy feeling that it gives them. She takes in the stillness, the peaceful silence, as their laughs die out. Her throat is dry from the laughter. She swallows to try to soothe it.

    "How have you been?" He asks. She glances over to the back of his head and hopes her doesn't see her frown at the idea of answering such a question, but she finds that she must if she wishes to keep the atmosphere light. Her chest tightens already knowing that it won't be like this once she steps through the doors of Blythestone.

    Speak then, her mind commands, feeling like the question as a timed deadline. Her hand drops from Mark's ring and back to her lap where it clasps with the other. Her black, slick gloves do their job of hiding her ghost fingers that long to cling to her neck and choke her out long enough to make her pass out.